سَلَفpredecessors

Example sentences

• واعتصمت مع ذلك بالكتاب والسنة وأصول السلف،

  And you cling with that to the Book and the Sunnah and the principles of the pious predecessors,

  السَّلَفِ — of the pious predecessors. This noun, the predecessors, is the owner half of the pairing, genitive and definite, completing 'principles of the predecessors'. Its definiteness makes the whole phrase definite, closing the list of things clung to.

  From: Unity Over Partisanship →

• فقد كان قبل أن يدخل في هذه الصناعة منورا مضيئا، على محياه سيما السلف،

  So indeed, before he entered into this field, he was enlightened and radiant, upon his face the mark of the pious predecessors,

  السَّلَفِ — the pious predecessors. This noun, the predecessors, is the owner half of the pairing, genitive and definite, completing 'the mark of the predecessors'. Its definiteness flows back to the whole phrase, naming the look that distinguished the early generations.

  From: Unity Over Partisanship →

• اسمعوا وصفي للسلف فإني ألتذ بذكرهم التذاذ

  Listen to my description of the predecessors, for I find pleasure in mentioning them.

  لِلسَّلَفِ — for the predecessors. This is li- 'of / for' fused with a definite noun, 'the predecessors', closing the relationship begun by 'my description'. The li- links the description to whom it is about, governing the noun into the post-preposition form.

  From: Signs of God's Transcendence →